maguilar

In 2014 alone the U.S. and Mexico totaled over $534 billion in bilateral commerce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With well over $1 billion traveling across our southern border every day, 70 percent of that crosses via trucks, which means longer wait times at ports of entry is directly impacting our economy. It is estimated that the U.S. economy loses $116 million for every minute of delay at the five busiest ports of entry on the southern border. In 2008, that added up to a loss of $6 billion and 26,000 jobs according to then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. A report examining the state of the border by Erik Lee and Christopher Wilson breaks it down like this: the infrastructure and capacity of ports of entry on the U.S. Mexico border has not kept up with the expansion and steady growth of trade on both sides.

When I was 11 years old I made the decision to become a journalist. I took speech and drama classes so I could develop a better TV presence, and routinely practiced the intro to the KOB channel 4 News. “Live, local, late breaking, this is Eyewitness News 4, today at 10.”

After a tragic graduation speech in 2012, when no one laughed at my, “how about that ride in” joke, I knew I shouldn’t be allowed to speak to the masses ever again. I was three months away from attending journalism school, so being the lazy daisy that I am I simply switched my focus to writing. Turns out that is one of the better decisions I’ve ever made.